


Story of Us

by kimjungwuwu



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23364097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimjungwuwu/pseuds/kimjungwuwu
Summary: Mark Lee and Lee Jeno have been friends for life. Both sons of prominent organized crime leaders, but one wants to leave his world of violence for music, while the other basks in it. Though their paths have led them different ways, the best friends have always had one dangerous thing in common. They are both in love with Lee Donghyuck, the charming son of Seoul's most hated politician. Together, the three boys have been inseparable since childhood.Mark must face a world unknown in order to save his city from destruction, and to save the life of his love. A world where fate can be a kind and gentle soul, or a cheat that only brings death.Based on film The Book of Life.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue

The school bus screeched to a stop in front of a large brick building. Renjun didn't look up from his book as the other three students around him rose from their seats and exited the bus. 

"Are you coming?"

He looked up and saw Jisung, a boy two years his minor. Jisung stared at him curiously, but Renjun didn't mind. He was used to being looked at like a specimen under a microscope. 

Huang Renjun had been dragged along on this field trip with three other boys. On a warm Saturday morning, he wished he would have been at home, reading under the trees in his backyard or running errands for his mother. Anything was better than being around the kids from school. 

He had come on this trip because his mother had asked him to, and he had not argued with her request. Renjun knew that she worried about him, about how he was treated in school and how he had always been somewhat of a loner. She had told him to try to make friends on the trip, and he knew that he would do anything just to make her happy. 

"I'll try. Even though no one's going," he had told her. 

Much to his disappointment, Renjun was wrong. 

He knew two of the three boys that had signed up to come on the trip. Jisung, who now stood before him, was the youngest boy of the group. Renjun didn't know much about him other than the fact that he was almost inseparable from his best friend, who he had recognized as Chenle. In the hallways at school, Renjun always saw them together, causing chaos among the students and teachers. They were troublemakers, if it was to be simply put. Renjun stood from his seat, holding the book he had been reading tightly under his arm, and followed Jisung off of the bus. The bus driver must have seen his discomfort, because he offered Renjun an sympathetic smile. 

"You'll like it here," the man said. "I know it." 

Jisung, Chenle, and what's-his-name had already approached the building, where a man stood waiting with crossed arms. 

"Come on, you, we have a lot to see," called the man to Renjun, who now jogged to catch up to the boys. He craned his neck upward to read the letters on top of the building, but it was a language he didn't recognize. The building was strange, he thought, for there were windows scaling up the brick, but he couldn't see a door. 

The man was clearly a tour guide of some sort. He wore a plain navy suit and buttoned white shirt, and his dark brown hair had been combed and styled. A silver name tag on his jacket read "Taeil" in neat lettering. 

"Welcome, boys." said the man called Taeil with a slight grin. "I know you think that you chose yourself to visit this place today, but I can assure you that fate is the reason you're here."

The boys stared silently at their guide. 

"And what is 'here' exactly?" asked the boy Renjun didn't recognize. 

"Here you will find the answers to many of your issues. Each of you as a reason for being here. Everyone who visits always does."

Chenle and Jisung snickered as he spoke. 

Renjun was beginning to dislike this guide. What was all this talk of fate? Why wouldn't he say what the place was called?

"My name is Taeil. I'll be your guide through the museum."

"Museum?" said Jisung, raising an eyebrow. 

Taeil ignored his question. "What are your names?"

"Jisung."

"Chenle," said the boy immediately to Jisung's right. 

"I'm Jaemin," the unknown boy finally named himself. 

"Renjun." 

The guide eyed Renjun curiously. 

"How do we even get inside? There isn't a door," said Chenle. 

Taeil smiled as he approached the brick wall. "Isn't there? Or did you just choose to look past it."

He reached a hand out and grabbed a doorknob, twisting and pushing as an entrance opened up. The bricks separated, leading into the dark inside of the building. Renjun blinked, wondering how he missed the doorknob sticking now quite obviously out of the wall. He wondered if it had always been there. To his left, the boys stared amazed at the hidden door. 

"Follow me," said Taeil, looking satisfied at their astonishment. Together, Chenle, Jisung, Jaemin, and Renjun let their curiosity get the better of them as they followed the strange guide into the building. Behind them, the brick door shut on its own, the doorknob almost melting away into the wall. Inside the building, it was nearly pitch-black. 

"What's the point of a museum if the lights are kept off," asked Jisung. Renjun ran into his back as he stopped abruptly. 

As if on cue, lights flickered on inside the room where they now stood. To Renjun's amazement, the room was no bigger than one of the classrooms at school. He looked around and behind him, and the only door he saw was the one he had just walked through. There were no windows. 

The room itself was almost bare. Every pale blue wall was bare of any pictures or art. On the floor rested a maroon rug and a podium, and on it laid an enormous brown leather-bound book. 

"This is what we came to see? An old book?" asked Chenle. Renjun wished he would stop asking questions. 

"This," said Taeil, "is not an ordinary book."

"Looks like one," said Jaemin. 

Without another word, Taeil approached the podium and opened the book. 

It was as if the room around Renjun had dissolved into a dream. The walls disappeared, leaving only a faint glow as the world around him morphed into a misty plain. The only way Renjun knew it was still real was the fact that the boys next to him gasped in astonishment. Taeil and the boys now stood on soft grass, for the rug had disappeared as well. 

"What the hell happened?" said Jaemin. The boys looked to Taeil for answers, but he just smiled. To him, it seemed as if this was the most normal thing in the world. 

"You've just entered the Book of Life."


	2. The Beginning

"The what?" asked Renjun. 

It was the only question he could form. What he now saw before him was so bizarre it made him dizzy. 

The room had literally become a field of nothing. As far as he could see, there was only gray mist. Only the green grass under his feet offered any sort of color in the place where he now found himself. 

"You were never coming to a museum," said Taeil. "The Book of Life always requests visitors, and you are the four that it chose."

Chenle and Jisung almost looked like they would explode from laughter. 

"This is a joke, right? It has to be. We didn't just disappear," said Jisung, holding a hand to his mouth to cover his laughs.

Taeil said nothing. He simply turned the first page of the book in his hand, and then another. 

"Chapter 1," said Taeil. "The Beginning."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pages of the book began to glow, and the scene around them melted away again. The grass below them turned to hard concrete sidewalk, and roads formed all around them. Skyscrapers and large buildings grew all around them out of the ground like trees, covering the once-bare landscape. A city formed out of the gray: cars now graced the roads, people walked along sidewalks without sparing the boys a passing glance. Renjun got the feeling that the passersby did not see them at all. 

"This is Seoul." stated Jaemin. 

Renjun recognized the streets. He remembered visiting the large city many times as a boy, but something about the scene before him was unfamiliar. Something he could not place was foreign to him. 

"Yes," said Taeil, "This is Seoul. This is where we begin our story." 

The scene shifted once more. Downtown Seoul faded into nothing, and soon the boys found themselves standing at the edge of a park. In the new distance, Renjun could see the outline of the city where he stood a few moments ago. All of the quick changes in location was beginning to make his head hurt. 

"We'll start here," said Taeil. 

"Why here?" asked Chenle. 

"You'll see. They'll be here soon."

"Who is 'they?'" asked Renjun. Taeil remained silent. 

Renjun had decided he didn't know if he could trust this tour guide. He was being more secretive than Renjun would have liked for him to be. At the same time, all that was going on was so extraordinary that Renjun almost couldn't help but believe him. 

Before them, children happily ran throughout the park, mothers watching closely as their sons and daughters played. What Taeil was looking for, Renjun didn't know. 

A group of three young boys playing on swings caught his eye. They were all about the same age, no older than six or seven, and they were taking turns pushing each other on the swings. 

"Renjun sees them," said Taeil. 

They all turned to watch the swinging boys. To Renjun, it seemed more like two of the boys alternated pushing the third boy on the swing. They playfully bickered about whose turn it was, while the third boy laughed at his friends. 

"These are the characters in our story."

"They just look like ordinary kids," said Chenle.

"And they are, at least for now. Follow me," said Taeil. Like magnets, the boys followed closely behind their guide as he walked. They passed a few families playing with their children, couples taking an afternoon stroll, and none of them seemed to notice the group moving through the park. 

"Taeil," asked Renjun, "can people see us?"

"They can only see us if I let them, and right now, I'm not."

Their guide had led the boys to a park bench next to the swings. The three boys Renjun had seen still swung, completely oblivious to the fact that they now had a group of observers. Taeil sat down, and so did Jisung and Chenle. Jaemin and Renjun stood behind the bench, watching the kids play. 

"You all seem quite relaxed for what I've shown you so far," said Taeil. "I normally get a much bigger reaction out of people."

"So you do this all the time? You time-travel to tell people about some kids?" asked Jaemin. 

"Yes," Taeil said with a matter-of-factly smile. "I don't get to do it often, though. Only people who need to hear this story will hear it."

They fell silent for a moment or two. Questions whirrled around in Renjun's mind, but none of them seemed like the right one to ask. 

"What is the story?" asked Chenle after a minute or so. 

"Well, you say these three children seem ordinary, right?"

The four boys nodded. 

"The two boys that keep fighting over their friend? They are far form normal, and you're about to find out why," said Taeil. 

Just as he spoke, he noticed a woman approaching the boys. She had a grave expression on her face, as if she didn't want to be there but had no choice. 

As the children noticed her, their happy faces fell. The woman spoke before any of them could react. 

"Mark, let's go now."

The biggest of the three boys walked unhappily to the woman. She bent down until she was eye-level with him and whispered something inaudible into his ear. The boy immediately fell into the woman's arms, and she hugged him tightly. Renjun couldn't be sure, but he thought he could see that the woman had been crying. The other two boys still stood near the swings, confused at what had happened.

"Mark?" called one of the boys after him. 

"Mark's nanny," said Taeil, looking to the woman. "She's just told him that his mother has been murdered." 

They looked at Taeil in alarm. "Murdered?" asked Chenle. "What kind of story is this?"

"These boys are not really normal. Mark, who you just met, and Jeno, the one who called to Mark, are the sons of two of the most infamous organized crime leaders in the country."

"Like assassins?" asked Jisung. 

"Anything. To these men, it's all business. Mark's mother was murdered, and his father will come to believe that someone with a vendetta against him committed the crime."

"Well, who did it, then?"

"You'll see soon. This story needs to be told in order," was Taeil's response. 

"What about the other boy? How does he fit in?" asked Jaemin. 

Taeil sighed. "Lee Donghyuck. He's the son of a famous politician, one so hated by all of South Korea. Together, Donghyuck, Mark, and Jeno have been best friends since birth, but not a single one of them had any clue about the violent lives their fathers led."

Renjun heard a quiet rustle in the grass. 

"SNAKE!"

The boys shouted as a thin snake slithered on the ground near the boys' feet. Much to Renjun's surprise, Taeil did not react. He simply watched the snake as it slithered behind a nearby tree. From the other side, a man appeared almost out of thin air. 

"Did you-" began Jisung. 

"Was that man always there?" interrupted Jaemin.

"It was almost like-" began Renjun. 

Taeil simply smiled. "Doyoung. The spirit of the Underside."

They stared at Taeil. 

"The what?" asked Renjun. 

The man that had appeared was clad in an all-black suit, neatly polished and styled. Even from a distance, Renjun could make out his dark eyes that darted here and there as if he was looking for someone. The man called Doyoung looked at his wrist, checking the time on a watch.

"Don't be fooled," said Taeil, "This is his human form."

Suddenly, another man appeared almost out of thin air, just as Doyoung had. This man was more casually dressed, a white shirt tucked into brown slacks. In any and every way, they appeared to be polar opposites. While Doyoung's demeanor was tense and cold, this man almost exuded softness and light. 

"Taeyong," said Taeil. "Spirit of the Overside."

"What are the Underside and Overside?" asked Chenle. 

"Shh," said Taeil. Doyoung spoke. 

"You're late," he said, "but what else is to be expected? Didn't get hung up in the Overside did you?" 

"Please," said the man called Taeyong. "I've been here long before you. You just chose not to notice me."

"Have you made your choice?" asked Doyoung, clearly annoyed. "We agreed that by the boys' fifth birthdays that we would have made a decision. They're nearly six now."

"You and your impatience," countered Taeyong cooly. "And yes, I have. I choose Mark."

Doyoung offered a sly smile. "I knew you would."

"You expected my choice as I expected you to cheat so early in a bet," said Taeyong, eyeing Doyoung dangerously. 

"Cheat? I would never."

"You say you have nothing to do with the murder of the boy's mother?"

"I swear on the Underside. Which reminds me," he took a step towards Taeyong. "What is the prize to be won? I don't suppose you would be willing to give me another chance if I were to win this little bet?" 

Taeyong scoffed. "Not in a million years."

Doyoung's playful face fell. "Fine. If I win, I want to be the guardian of the Overworld."

As lighthearted as Taeyong had appeared before, he now stared daggers at the man before him. 

"No. Never. You know what would happen if we were to switch roles. The balance of the world would be completely thrown," said Taeyong. 

"But you seem so confident in your little champion," said Doyoung. "If you're sure that Mark will come out victorious, why should you be afraid?" 

Taeyong looked at the ground. Doyoung knew that as much as he didn't want do admit it, Taeyong loved a bet as much as he did. 

"Shake on it," he said, holding out his hand. "I choose Jeno."

"And I choose Mark. The spirit whose champion wins the heart of Lee Donghyuck first will win." 

Taeyong stretched out his hand to meet Doyoung's and the two spirits shook.


	3. Mark

Mark Lee remembered everything there was to remember about his mother.

He remembered her kind eyes when she told him bedtime stories, she remembered her long hugs before school and the kisses she would give him when he got home. For almost six years, Mark's mother had been the only parent he had really known.

He remembered exactly how he felt when he had found out she had died. 

Mark didn't remember much about the burial service. There weren't many people there to mourn. He remembered his father being there, and he remembered his nanny standing with him too. The rest of the few faces that were there, Mark didn't know. His father hadn't cried, and Mark remembered thinking that it was strange. Then again, he had never seen his father cry. The look on Mark's father's face looked stone-cold, as if he wouldn't have been feeling at all. 

How could he not cry, Mark had thought. How do you not weep for the death of someone you love?

After his mother's death, Mark rarely ever saw his father. His nanny would bring him to school and retrieve him when the day was over. She cooked for him, kept up with the house, helped him with schoolwork. All of the things Mark wanted his mother to do. As for his father, all Mark knew was that he would disappear for days at a time, never revealing where he was going or why he was leaving. He was used to it, though, for even when he still had his mother, his father was absent daily at best. 

On Mark's sixth birthday, his father explained it all to him, or at least, he explained as much as a six-year-old could understand. It was a rare occasion that Mark's father was home for an evening, and while he tucked little Mark into bed, he spoke. 

"It's my job," he had suddenly said. "I'm not home a lot because of my job."

"Your job?"

"Yes," he replied. "I'm in charge of making sure the bad guys, the robbers, the cheats, the frauds, stay off of the streets."

Mark had looked at him curiously, then broke out into a smile. "So, you're like a superhero!" 

Mark's father never smiled much, but the slight turn of his mouth was unmistakable, even in the darkness. 

"Yeah, kiddo. Like a superhero. And one day, you're going to be in charge of the superheroes, just like me."

Mark had loved the idea of getting to fight the bad guys. He thought of the heroes he watched in his cartoons, imagining himself as one of them, banishing evil from the streets. 

He had never thought of his father as being one of them. 

_____

Donghyuck and Jeno had been his strength throughout his grieving period. Though he didn't understand the weight of his mother's death at the young age of five, Mark would tell stories about her to his friends whenever he missed her most. With sympathetic ears, his friends never interrupted him. 

Mark loved his two friends with all his heart. No matter where Mark went or what happened in his life, he could always count on Haechan and Jeno to be there beside him.

Until they were sent away. 

Donghyuck was the first to leave. His father, Lee Hoseok, was a politician, one so hated that he was known throughout the entire country. Donghyuck had spent the majority of his childhood followed closely by security guards, always at his back or in his way. He didn't mind them for the most part, but the stares of other people as he walked to school surrounded by grown men often bothered him. So when Donghyuck had turned thirteen, he was sent away to an all-boys school in a small town where his father hoped he would have a normal life. 

At the train station one warm Summer evening, both Jeno and Mark had accompanied Donghyuck to see him off to school. Mark's stomach had been in knots for most of the day; he was unsure of how he would feel when Donghyuck stepped on the train. Much to his comfort, both of his friends had looks of sadness on their faces as well. Mark hated seeing Donghyuck leave. 

He had been scheduled to leave at noon, and Donghyuck began to say his goodbyes five minutes before his departure. 

At thirteen, Mark always thought he would be invincible, immune to life's many disappointments. He figured that he'd already suffered the worst tragedy anyone could imagine: the death of someone he loved. So why did he feel as if his heart was being torn in two?

Donghyuck had always been special to Mark. He had always found a way to make Mark smile when he had needed it the most. Whenever Mark was feeling lost, he had always found his way to Donghyuck's doorstep. 

Donghyuck had turned to Jeno to say goodbye, but Mark just stared at him, wishing that he wasn't really leaving. Hoping it was all a dream. 

"Jeno," Donghyuck said, "You'll stay out of trouble right? You won't have me to bail you out of the Headmaster's office, you know."

Jeno chuckled. "I'll be okay. I'm more worried about you being all on your own." Jeno reached his arms out, pulling Donghyuck into a hug. 

"You'll be safe right?" asked Jeno, "I mean, we all know you're the smartest out of all of us."

"Damn right," Donghyuck replied. 

"Language, Lee!"

Donghyuck laughed, breaking Jeno's embrace and turning to Mark. The night air felt heavy in the sky, and neither boy could figure out a proper goodbye. Though various people shuffled around beside them, preparing to get onto the train, they only saw each other. The noise of the station was drowned out by Mark's whirling thoughts. 

Mark looked at his friend, filled with a sadness he had never felt before. The only way he could've described it was that it felt like if Donghyuck left, a piece of Mark would be leaving too. 

"Hyuck," said Mark, unable to find what he wanted to express in words. 

"C'mere," said Donghyuck, pulling Mark into a hug. 

"I'll miss you," Mark whispered into Donghyuck's ear. 

"Just remember, it's not forever," Donghyuck replied. 

His words made Mark's throat catch, but he refused to let the tears fall from his eyes. Donghyuck pulled away from the hug. 

"I have something for you. And for Jeno," said Mark, reaching a hand into the pocket of his pants. As he opened his hand, three wooden rings lay perfectly centered his his palm. 

"One for each of us. So no matter where we go, we'll always have each other."

Mark handed one to each of the boys, then he slipped his own ring on his right ring finger. The train whistle blared behind the boys, signaling that it was preparing for departure. 

"I have to go," said Donghyuck, moving towards the train. 

As Donghyuck disappeared into a train car, Mark and Jeno lifted their hands, waving goodbye to their dear friend. 

_____

"Wait," said Renjun, "So Donghyuck's father just sends him away? Just like that?"

"Sadly, yes," replied Taeil. "As much as men with power tend to, well, not care about anyone else but themselves, Donghyuck's father would have preferred Donghyuck to go to school away from him and the people who wanted to hurt him."

"That's awful," said Chenle. 

Taeil and his guests had watched the scene unfold before them, and Renjun couldn't help but feel a deep sadness for Mark. He knew what it was like to feel lonely. 

"I mean, at least he has Jeno," said Jaemin. 

"He does," said Taeil, "but not for long."

Jaemin groaned. "Don't tell me Jeno leaves Mark..."

"Just keep watching the story," said Taeil. 

The train station faded, and the boys now found themselves back onto the streets of Seoul. This time, the night sky towered over them. They were at the end of an alleyway, bathed almost completely in darkness. 

"What are we doing here?" asked Jisung. 

"You kids ask far too many questions," said Taeil.

Renjun could see a figure moving at the opposite end of the alley, crossing from one street to the street where Renjun stood. As the figure moved closer, he could see that it was Jeno. 

As Jeno emerged from the alleyway, the boys could see him clearly, even in the darkness of nighttime. 

Renjun hadn't even seen the snake approach Jeno. 

Doyoung emerged from the alleyway right behind Jeno, not missing a single one of his striding steps. Though he was following closely, Jeno hadn't the faintest idea that he was being trailed. 

"Excuse me, sir," said Doyoung to Jeno. 

But as soon as Jeno turned, the sleek man Renjun had seen at the park was gone. In his place, sat a raggedy old man dressed in ripped clothes. He held a metal cup out to Jeno. 

"Please, sir, if you could spare me a bit of money for some food, I would greatly appreciate your help." The man smiled a toothy smile at him. 

Jeno stared down at the old man, unsure of how to proceed. 

"My dad tells me I shouldn't stop for anyone on the street. Or give money to strange people." 

The man's smile faltered, but only for a moment. 

"Can I interest you in a trade, perhaps?"

Jeno furrowed his brows, interested at the man's offer. 

"I have a medal that was given to me when I was a young boy like yourself." The man procured a necklace with a large green pendant dangling from the chain from the tattered pocked of the jacket he wore. "It has protected me for many years. Legend has it that anyone who wears this medal will never be harmed in any way. They will be almost invincible."

"Invincible?" asked Jeno. There seemed to have been a faint glimmer in his eyes. Could he be telling the truth? Jeno was never one for myths or legends, but if the man would eave him alone, he'd buy it. He thought the pendant looked cool anyway. 

"And just for a bit of money?" asked Jeno. 

"Anything you can spare, my boy."

Jeno reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a couple of bills. 

"Here, this is all I have." 

As Jeno handed the man the money, he slipped the cold pendant into Jeno's palm. 

"A wise decision. You had better be on your way home now, it's dark out," said the man. Without hesitation, Jeno pulled the pendant over his head, and turned away from the man, continuing to walk in the opposite direction

Renjun watched the old man transform back into the Doyoung he had seen at the park. Only this time, the man's smile was one of victory. Like the pieces of a plot had fallen into place.


End file.
